Police and Internal Security in China

The security apparatus is made up of the Ministry of State Security and the
Ministry of Public Security, the People’s Armed Police, the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA), and the state judicial, procuratorial, and penal systems.
The Ministry of Public Security oversees all domestic police activity in China,
including the People’s Armed Police Force. The ministry is responsible
for police operations and prisons and has dedicated departments for internal
political, economic, and communications security. Its lowest organizational
units are public security stations, which maintain close day-to-day contact
with the public.

The People’s Armed Police Force, which sustains an estimated total strength
of 1.5 million personnel, is organized into 45 divisions: internal security
police, border defense personnel, guards for government buildings and embassies,
and police communications specialists.

The Ministry of State Security was established in 1983 to ensure “the
security of the state
through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counterrevolutionary
activities
designed to sabotage or overthrow China’s socialist system.” The
ministry is guided by a series of laws enacted in 1993, 1994, and 1997 that
replaced the “counterrevolutionary” crime statutes.
The ministry’s operations include intelligence collection, both domestic
and foreign. Authorities
have used arrests on charges of revealing state secrets, subversion, and common
crimes to
suppress political dissent and social advocacy.